1. Field
This application relates generally to baseball bats, particularly to training bats with reduced hitting surface for use in improving hitting accuracy and bat control, and for improving the transition from the metal and composite bats used in collegiate games to wood bats of the type used in professional games.
2. Prior Art
In the field of competitive sport, it is generally accepted that hitting a pitched baseball is among the most difficult of skills to acquire and maintain. Acquiring and maintaining this skill requires dedication and many hours of precise batting practice. Batting practice methods are commonly designed to train a hitter in the most exacting and efficient manner possible, without which, the batter is unlikely to acquire or maintain such skill.
A conventional regulation baseball bat is comprised of a larger diameter hitting portion and a much smaller diameter handle portion, both being circular in cross-section. The hitting portion is larger for hitting the ball easier, and also heavier for positioning the center of gravity closer to the distal end of the bat for greater hitting power.
Wood bats, with their laminar grain structure, are traditionally gripped by the batter such that a ball may be struck consistently along a narrow zone that runs the length of the bat's striking surface and which corresponds with the exposed edge-grain of the wood, regarded generally as being the optimal impact area for greatest bat strength and energy transfer to the ball. Accordingly, the large trademark label of a wood bat is traditionally placed to help indicate grain orientation such that the batter can easily see it and quickly determine how to set his grip for optimum bat performance. Although composite and aluminum bats have no laminar grain structure, batters using these bats also benefit by using a grip and swing that optimizes energy transfer to the ball.
A common ability shared by skilled batters as they swing is the tendency to not turn, or roll, the bat's striking surface as it approaches the ball. Skilled batters are able to set their grip and keep a relatively small, narrow zone of the bat's striking surface directed toward the ball, consistently making contact in this zone despite having to make rapid adjustments to the height of a pitched ball as it approaches anywhere from high to low in the batter's hitting zone. Such consistency in the area of contact on the bat results in better hitting performance in the form of improved ball flight and improved energy transfer to the ball. Normally, this means more hits into fair territory, more line drives, and harder hits. Batters of lesser skill typically do not have the wrist control to keep from turning, or rolling, the striking surface during their swing as they try to adjust to pitched balls of varying heights. This can lead to contact with the bat of a much more random nature around its striking surface, often yielding less desirable results, such as pop-ups, ground balls and softly hit balls.
A training bat disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,246,894 to Salisbury is, in one embodiment, provided with a flattened portion as the intended striking surface. The flat striking surface trains the batter to set and maintain a grip that keeps the striking surface directed toward the ball. Since the flat striking surface is a relatively large area, it is much easier to make contact with the ball than with a conventional bat and is therefore unlikely to improve a batter's hand-eye coordination. Since the flat striking surface is not convex and is positioned relatively close to the axis of the bat, it is unlikely to create a feel and sound that is familiar to the batter when hitting a baseball.
Another training bat disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,268,226 to Martino is provided with an opening in the distal end in a location normally associated with a bat's optimum point of contact and is large enough to allow a baseball to pass through. Like the previous example, this bat also trains the batter to set and maintain a grip and swing that, in this case, keeps the opening directed toward the ball such that when properly swung, the ball passes through the bat and is caught in a small net affixed to the back side of the opening. Since the intended purpose of this bat is to catch, rather than hit, a ball, it is unlikely to render a training exercise that provides immediate feedback of the type that is gained by actually hitting a ball and watching the result.
Some prior art training bats seek to improve batter skill by providing a reduced area for the striking surface. For example, a training bat disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,682,773 to Pomilia, is provided with a uniform diameter through its length. The small diameter of the bat is intended to improve hand-eye coordination. Since the hitting portion of the bat is circular in cross-section, it is unlikely to train the batter to not turn, or roll, the striking surface as he swings. Further, since the diameter, and therefore convexity, of the striking surface is much smaller than that of a conventional bat, and since its weight is biased toward the handle, rather than toward the hitting portion, it is unlikely to create a feel and sound that is familiar to the batter when hitting a ball.